Copilot (Free License) Missing in Word and Excel

Question

Copilot (Free License) Missing in Word and Excel

AJ-4596 20

Our staff who have been using the free Copilot on Windows are saying Copilot is missing from their Word and Excel applications.

Has Copilot (free license) been stripped from the MS Office suite?

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Answer 1

Hendrix-V 19,115 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi AJ-4596,

Based on the information currently available, there has not been any confirmed announcement that the free Copilot experience has been removed from Word or Excel. If Copilot was previously visible and is now missing, it may be related to account licensing status, Office app version, sign-in state, feature rollout changes, or service availability rather than a permanent removal of the feature.

As a few quick checks, it may help to:

Confirm the user is signed into Word or Excel with the same Microsoft account that has access to Copilot.
Verify that Office is fully updated to the latest available build.
Sign out of Office applications and sign back in.
Check whether Copilot remains available in other Microsoft apps or through the Copilot web experience.

I understand this can be disruptive, especially for users who have become accustomed to using Copilot in their daily workflow. In the meantime, if you can share the Office version, licensing type, and whether the issue affects all users or only a subset of users, the community may be able to help narrow down the cause.

Let me know if you need further assistance, feel free to ask me by clicking "Add Comment" or "Add Answer" if you cannot add comment so your response will be visible. Thanks for your effort.

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AJ-4596 20 Reputation points

2026-09-16T14:09:43.6+00:00

Please note that the user base only have access to the free Windows Copilot. Last week they could still access Copilot on their Word and Excel applications.

Yes, the user is signed into Word and Excel with their Microsoft 365 account.

Yes, the MS Office applications are on the latest build.

Yes, the user tried signing out and signing back in with no success.

Yes, the user is still able to launch the Windows Copilot application with no problem.

Here is a screenshot of Word and the Copilot icon is missing entirely:
Hendrix-V 19,115 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-09-17T06:39:51.59+00:00

Hi AJ-4596,

Thank you for providing the additional details and screenshot.

Based on the information shared, this does not appear to be a typical sign-in, update, or local Office installation issue. Since the affected users can still access the standalone Windows Copilot app, and multiple users began experiencing the same behavior around the same time, the issue may be related to how Copilot features are currently being made available within Word and Excel for accounts that only have access to the free Copilot experience.

Because the issue is affecting multiple users and the Copilot entry is no longer present in the Office interface, there may be a service-side change, feature rollout, or entitlement-related condition that is not controlled by the local Office installation.

If the behavior continues, it may be worth monitoring for any updates from Microsoft regarding Copilot availability in Word and Excel and, if necessary, contacting through Microsoft Support for further review.

Please note that this is a user-to-user support forum. Moderators, contributors including external Microsoft employees cannot directly intervene in Microsoft product features or access back-end systems. Our role is limited to providing technical guidance on reported issues, requests, or ideas.